Ten Ways to Prepare for a Big Storm

1.  Gas:  for the car(s), for the grill, for the snowblower.  

2.  Fill a large stockpot with water for drinking needs.  I told Mr. E that I wanted to put it in the refrigerator.  He asked why I would want to do that.  So bacteria would not grow in it.  What is there in water for them to eat, he queried.  The stockpot sat on the cooktop without issue.

3.  Clear the yard of anything that can blow away:  empty pots, planting and plant maintenance equipment.

4.  Clear the porch railing of all the stuff that can blow off:  plants, twine, pruners, containers of stale nuts for the chipmunks.

5.  Queue up Accuweather doppler radar on the computer.

6.  Worry about the big pine tree that I haven't taken down yet ($$$) and vow to get it removed this winter.

7.  Formulate a backup plan if said tree lands on the house.  (Call the insurance company for their list of people who remove trees and weather-proof broken houses.) 

8.  Finish doing the laundry in case electricity goes out for awhile.

9.  Laugh off the electrical issues because we put in a generator this year.

10.  Stare wistfully for days at the computer which does not have internet connectivity because Comcast lost a node that supplies us.  The generator did no good on this one, and there is only one backup:  tethering from Mr. E's phone in order to put up this post.

Comments

[Caroline M]

From the blogs I've been reading the done thing is to freeze the water. If the power goes off (not an issue for you) the extra thermal mass keeps the freezer cold, then it keeps the fridge cold, then you drink it.

I keep on being glad to live where we get middle of the road weather, one rare venomous snake and no nasty spiders.

[Peg in Kensington, CA]

Our backup water is in large bottles in the earthquake kit (garbage can) in the backyard. My husband replenished the stuff recently.

[Anne]

When I was a kid, my gram always had a bag of cat litter, a shovel and a thermos of hot coffee in the car, plus a bunch of wool blankets (c. WWII).

We used to laugh at her until one day in late July, we tried to drive over one mountain pass in Pennsylvania and got hit with a freak snowstorm while wearing our little tank tops and shorts. We were all REALLY happy we had hot coffee (yes, at 8 or 9 years of age, we were swigging it down, it was that cold) and wool blankets while we sat in the back seat and shivered, and she put down cat litter for traction and dug the car out of the slush at the side of the road until a semi-truck came thru and we followed it clearing a path down the other side of the mountain.

Moral of the story: Prepared = good.

Glad you didn't need much of what you had.

[Lynn]

No bacteria wafting through your house? No dust for the bacteria to feed on? Leave that water in the stockpot for the next week - then ask Mr. E. what he thinks of it.

Did you line up enough fiber projects?

[Juno]

I hope it had a LID at least ;)

[margene]

Oh dear! I hope you have power soon!

[Carole]

The generator is smart, too bad it doesn't help with the cable issues, though! I keep saying I'm going to jailbreak my iphone so I can tether it to the ipad but I'm a big chicken.

[Allison]

For a moment I misread #4 as "clear off the chipmunks" and had a very good laugh at it.

[Lorette]

Fill up the bathtub, too. You can use it for washing, and to water pets if necessary.

Hope your computer is back in service soon. That would seriously suck.

[--Deb]

At least knitting doesn't require electricity!

[JJ]

My preparedness included stocking up on cookie dough, alcohol, and ice cream. BF thinks I am not good at emergency preparedness. (We already had gas, batteries, flashlights, candles, insulated shopping bags, water, cat litter, food for pets, etc.)

[TimH]

Um, the bacteria eat the algae that grows rather quickly. Our local tap water is so full of chlorine that it would last pretty well, but I'll bet your water tastes better without it.

[gaby]

My pole bean tower blew over . Wahhh